Bread & Circuses

I wrote Bread & Circuses for the Turn Based Tactics Jam! As a classics major, I was surprised to see that there weren't any wargaming rules for the Roman arena. I’m not really into combat-heavy roleplaying games or even gladiators, but I thought that that was a glaring hole in the RPG canon. Don’t people like gladiators? The movie made me cry.

So, there’s two components to this project. First, this was a thought experiment to develop the loose skeleton of a wargame from which a roleplaying game could be extrapolated, in the same way that Braunstein was extrapolated from Napoleonic wargames. There are certain rules, like XP for gladiators, that definitely leans hard on the implication that this should be played like a roleplaying game — but this is not necessarily the case! I was just thinking that part of the gladiatorial spectacle would be seeing which gladiators would eventually make it to the top of the top.

This project was also an educational one. Someone else who’s interested in the premise could look at the little information I’ve put together and make something more to their tastes. Lots of what’s here is less rules and more descriptions of Roman entertainment norms. 

This book contains procedures for:

• MUNERA: One-on-one gladiator duels!
• VENATIONES: Beast hunts in the arena!
• NEUMACHIAE: Massive mock naval battles!

The universal mechanic across these different spectacles is a dice pool, where 1d6 represents 1 hit! Also included are rules that enable in-depth gladiator management, where you can play as one gladiator or as a lanista overseeing an entire ludus! These lend themselves well to role-playing games set in the arena.

This game requires a couple six-sided dice and some sheets of paper. You will probably choose someone to be the munerarius, the master of ceremonies who funds and runs the gladiatorial games. This player will narrate combat and other situations, and they will also roleplay characters not owned by the other players. Finally, they are also entrusted with making speedy decisions about how the game should be played.

The other players may choose to duel each other’s gladiators in the arena, or the munerarius may play as the contestants which the other players must duel. Each way, the munerarius acts like more a referee or more a Game Master!